Mr JB Daudu, SAN, the Coordinator of the Rule of Law Development Foundation (ROLDF) has said that short-sightedness and over-sensitivity have greatly affected government’s response to the needs of the criminal justice architecture.
Daudu made this known while delivering a paper at the on-going five-day event of 7th Annual Criminal Law Review conference organised by ROLDF in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the title of the paper was `Quantifying and Accessing the Criminal Justice Sector Budget and Its Impact on the Administration of Justice in Nigeria.
He noted the architecture and infrastructure include the correctional services, forensic crime investigation, pre-trial detention and many other criminal justice measures.
“This is why today, with the sudden growth of our population to more than 200 million, the criminal justice infrastructure and crime fighting machinery have become grossly inadequate.
“The ratio of police personnel to the population as well as other indices such as courts and correctional services are grossly inadequate, and the solution is corruption-free funding.
“They should receive predictable, adequate, transparent and corruption-free resources so that they can discharge their statutory responsibilities thereby protecting rights, delivering timely justice and rehabilitating offenders’’.
He reiterated that paucity of funds also made rehabilitation programmes to falter, leading to an erosion of public confidence.
“Adequate nutrition is a basic human right, essential for health, rehabilitation, and institutional stability as under-funded feeding is repeatedly cited as a driver of unrest, illness and reputational risk.
“High prevalence of untreated chronic conditions and mental-health needs among inmates, outbreak of diseases and pandemics, all requiring referrals to external hospitals, should be immediately handled.
“A huge capital injection is required to renovate wholesale, decrepit correctional centres, create humane spaces, expand healthcare wings, and build facilities that enable rehabilitation rather than mere containment’’.
The learned silk stressed that funding justice in Nigeria should be more than a fiscal fulfilment of righteousness, insisting that it is a moral and constitutional imperative.
“The effectiveness of our justice institutions, from the police to the courts and correctional services, rests squarely on how predictably, adequately and transparently they are financed.
“Where budgets are insufficient or irregular, the very ideals of fairness, due process, and rehabilitation collapse under the weight of neglect,’’ he warned.
He, however, said that the 2023 constitutional reform, which devolved correctional responsibility to both federal and state governments, marks a defining step toward shared accountability and localized innovation.
“Yet, this premise will only materialize when funding translates into humane conditions, professional integrity, absence of corrupt practices and genuine reintegration for offenders.
“Ultimately, a truly operational correctional service is measured not only by adequate Naira allocations but by outcomes, and the feedback of inmates who are rehabilitated and service officers who are motivated rather than demoralised.
“We must a justice system that commands the public’s confidence rather than its cynicism.
“Sustainable investment in criminal justice is, therefore, an investment in national stability, human dignity, and the rule of law itself.
“It is only when justice is adequately funded that Nigeria can credibly claim to be both free and independent’’.
